SAJU vs STATE OF KERALA

The petitioner herein is the sole accused in Crime

No.97 of 2017 of the Chathannoor Excise Range registered

under Sections 55 (a) and 58 of the Kerala Abkari Act. He

seeks regular bail under Section 439 of the Code of Criminal

Procedure. The application filed by him for regular bail was

dismissed by the learned Judicial First Class Magistrate

(Temporary), South Paravur, Kollam on 05.10.2017. The

petitioner has been in judicial custody since 05.10.2017.

The prosecution case is that, on 20.7.2017, the

petitioner was found possessing 64 litres of Indian made

Foreign Liquor at his house. The offence was detected by

the Excise Inspector, Chathannoor on search at the house

of the accused on the basis of secret reliable information.

The prosecution version is that on seeing the Excise team,

the accused ran off and escaped after abandoning the

quantity of liquor at his house. An application filed by the

petitioner for pre-arrest bail was disposed by this Court with

direction to the petitioner to surrender before the

Investigating Officer. Accordingly, he surrendered on

5.10.2017 and he has been in custody since that date.

On a perusal of the case diary, I find that

investigation is practically over. No previous crime of

similar nature is seen reported against the petitioner. The

the reason stated by the Excise Inspector for not arresting

the accused is not convincing, and it is rather suspicious. In

the above circumstances, the petitioner can be granted bail

on conditions.

In the result, this application for bail is allowed. The

petitioner will be released on bail on his executing a bond

with two solvent sureties for 50,000/- (Rupees Fifty

thousand only) each to the satisfaction of the court below

having jurisdiction. Bail is granted on condition that;

a. The petitioner shall report before the

Excise Inspector, Kollam between 10.00 am and

11 a.m on all Mondays for a period of two

months.

b. The petitioner shall not enter the

jurisdictional limits of the Chathannoor Excise

Range for two months.

c. The petitioner shall not in any manner

influence or intimidate the witnesses and he shall

not have any contact with the material witnesses

directly or over telephone or otherwise.

d. The petitioner shall not involve in any

offence punishable under the Kerala Abkari Act till

trial of the case is over.

Forward a copy of this order to the Excise Inspector,

Kollam, who will report compliance of the conditions, directly

to the court below.